(sniffles) I've been ill, so sorry if this comes up late. I caught a virus at the very start of the 2 week holidays. Talk about bad timing! (sneezes and shivers)
I explained the disclaimer thing in the last chapter, so... (sniff) there you have it.
And you may have noticed I've changed my pen name from hikarikairi159 to nusubito. Because I felt like it.
I'm really really sorry this was so late! I've been engrossed in playing Ragnarok Online, not to mention my final year 9 exams. But enough about that. Here's the latest chapter.
"Are you awake?"
A kind female voice floated through Kairi's mind as she slowly opened her eyes. She seemed to be in some sort of hospital. She was laying on a white bed in a small room that stank of disinfectant.
"Wha...?"
A nurse in a white uniform leant over the bed. She had deep brown eyes and wispy, brown hair that fell to her shoulders.
"Where am I?" asked Kairi, sitting up. "Ah - OUCH!"
"Stay lying down. You have quite a nasty injury there." said the nurse, laying her back on the bed. Kairi groaned as agonizing pain swallowed her and gasped for breath, breathing roughly and sharply.
"Where am I?" she asked weakly, still breathing heavily.
"You're in hospital."
"Where?"
"About a mile down the road from the Kurama school."
"How come?"
The nurse sighed.
"Calm down!" she said. "Let me catch my breath before you ask me anything else!"
Kairi blushed and waited, tucking her crimson red, spiked up hair behind her ears.
"You seem to have been in some kind of accident." said the nurse.
"Is there anything wrong with me?" asked Kairi warily.
"You appear to have internal bleeding." she shrugged.
"Wh-what?"
"Calm down!" sighed the nurse. "Now, it's my duty to ask you how you got this accident. Have you been in any fights or anything?"
Kairi swallowed her guilty conscience and shook her head.
"I...uh, I fell over the other day playing...rugby." she lied. The nurse raised an eyebrow.
"Rugby?" she asked.
"Yeah! Totally. It's, uh, my favourite sport!" Kairi beamed. This was a downright lie - she hated rugby.
"I wouldn't have expected a girl to play rugby..." muttered the nurse under her breath. Kairi, though, heard it as clearly as if she'd said it aloud.
"G-G-G-GIRL?" she cried. The nurse glanced at her.
"Um, yes..." she said, looking quizically at her.
"I-I-I'm a guy." she stammered. "I go to Kurama High."
"I think I know the difference between a guy and a girl." replied the nurse, cocking an eyebrow. Kairi looked down to see herself wearing a plastic-like, white hospital dressing gown. The nurse must have changed her from her school uniform.
"Y-Y-Y-You!" cried Kairi. "B-B-But...Who else knows?"
"Calm down, just me." she sighed. "Why? Do people think you're a guy?"
"Of course they do!" snapped Kairi.
"Alright, alright! Just calm down!" said the nurse. "Hang on, I'll get you some water."
Kairi swore under her breath and buried herself under the duvet. This was a disaster! Suppose someone had visited and the nurse said she was a girl?
The second the nurse returned with the water, Kairi practically pounced on her.
"DID YOU TELL ANYONE?" she demanded. Almost spilling the water, the nurse set it down beside the bed and faced Kairi.
"Well, I figured there must have been a really serious reason to why you were dressing as a guy, so I decided to keep it a secret." she said, winking. "My name's Emiko. If I were you, I'd do your hair better. It's kind of a giveaway."
Kairi said nothing.
"Well...thanks, Emiko." she said.
"No problem!" she replied cheerfully. "So, what am I meant to call you?"
"Kazu Hideko." Kairi told her.
"Okedoke, Kazu."
Kairi stared at the bed, not replying.
"Uhm..." began Emiko. "Look, I know it's not my place to ask, but...how did you really get those injuries?"
No reply.
"Oh, okay...forget I asked that." she said quickly.
An awkward silence filled the air. Kairi felt uncomfortable talking about how she really got the wounds, because even though she never would, she had the feeling she would blurt out the truth about being an assassin. She desperately wanted to tell someone, but if she did she knew it would be the end of her.
"So...umm...Emiko, has anyone visited?" asked Kairi uncomfortably."Not yet." shrugged Emiko. "I'll expect you'll have some visitors around now, though. Lessons will have ended."
"What day is it?" she asked.
"Same day you passed out." replied Emiko, not even bothering to look at her. Kairi sighed and lay back in bed as the nurse busied herself in the medicine cabinets. Kairi had always hated hospital, especially when she was a little kid. Her grandmother had died from lung cancer when she was four. Then again, she was asking for it, smoking 40 cigarettes a day. That didn't mean Kairi was too young to miss her. Now, on the other hand, she felt no remorse. It made her feel uncomfortable in a way, but then again, what happened was in the past and there was no use getting emotional about it. She was starting to reflect on her distant childhood when there was a tapping on her shoulder. Jumping slightly, she leant over to look at the smiling nurse.
"What did I tell you? Visitors." she beamed.
Peering over Emiko's shoulder, Kairi could see Sora, Roxas, Riku and Tsukasa standing at the door of the small ward. Thankfully, Ryosei was nowhere to be seen.
"Kazu!" cried Tsukasa, running over. "Are you okay? Y-You just collapsed in music..."
"Mirumachi wouldn't even let us come with you in the ambulance." said Riku, sniffing loftily.
"I was in an ambulance?"
"Duh! Did you think Mirumachi'd carry you to hospital? She can barely carry herself with all that weight she's put on." said Sora, grinning. Kairi giggled, grateful that he was trying to cheer her up.
"So...you okay, pal?" asked Roxas. "Y-Yeah." shrugged Kairi.
"As a matter of fact, he's got quite a few internal injuries." piped in Emiko.
Tsukasa looked worried. "Internal injuries?"
"He's got internal bruises, a torn muscle, probably more."
"How'd he get them?"
"I was playing after school rugby and I got wiped out." butted in Kairi. "I'd been a little delirous since and I guess it really got to me."
Tsukasa gave a small 'oh'.
"Will he be okay?" he asked.
"He'll be fine, don't worry." Kairi glanced at Emiko and mouthed a silent 'thank you' at her for referring to her as 'he'. Thank god her secret was still safe...
"Hey," grinned Roxas, nudging Sora. "I think Tsukasa here has the hots for our friend Kazu."
Tsukasa stared at them in disbelief.
"I have a boyfriend." he groaned. "Can't I have friends without being accused of having a crush on them?"
Roxas shrugged and smirked to himself, and Tsukasa muttered something under his breath.
"Kazu, we didn't know what to bring you, so Sora decided we should give you some money." said Riku. "Although I don't know why he didn't pay. The money's from me, so be nice to me and sod him."
Kairi laughed as Riku passed her a $20 bill. She gratefully placed it beside her bed and lay back into the soft pillow.
"What were the teachers saying?" she smirked.
"They were panicking loads." grinned Sora. "Mirumachi's more psycho than ever. She now thinks she's a murderer."
"She could be if I don't stop coughing up blood and choking." groaned Kairi, clearing her sore throat.
"Don't say that!" cried Sora. "No way are you going to die!"
"Breathing trouble?" asked Emiko sharply. Kairi looked at her and nodded.
"Why?"
"It's...oh, never mind." she replied. Kairi raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Ah, I just thought you said something else." said Emiko, shrugging again. Kairi decided to let it slide, and leant back against the pillow, wincing internally as the ache in her chest ate away at her.
"Anyhoopy..." said Tsukasa. "I'll have to go now. I was meant to be meeting Natsu."
"See ya." she beamed, waving faintly at him as she watched him exit the room. She looked back at Riku, Roxas and Sora.
"So..." she said awkwardly. "Um...what do you guys do out of school?"
"I just hang around with these oddballs." said Riku. "Though most of the time Roxas spends his time drooling over Nami."
"Nami?"
"She's Roxas' girlfriend." said Sora, with a tone of mockery to his voice. "Naminé." (A.N: happy now, Hannah? XD)
Roxas' face turned crimson.
"So what?" he blushed. "At least I have one."
Sora didn't say anything - just fidgeted uncomfortably and shrugged. Relief washed over Kairi in a subconsious wave. Alarmed and somewhat embarrassed, she pushed the thought to the back of her head and said nothing. All of a sudden, there was a quiet beeping and Emiko walked over in an instant.
"Kazu, the room's free, so you can go for a scan now." she beamed.
"Scan?"
"Yeah, an X-ray."
"Why?"
"Just, y'know, to check up for any fractures."
Kairi glanced at the guys, who shrugged.
"We'll go, then." said Riku, shuffling and running a hand through his long, platinum-coloured hair. "See you around, Kaz."
The other two mumbled their goodbyes and trailed out of the small hospital room. Once they'd left, Kairi looked up at Emiko. Emiko raised an eyebrow as Kairi just lay there.
"Well, come on, Mr.Idle. You're not gonna get there yourself."
Kairi groaned and rolled off the bed to her feet, then stood upright and flicked out her crimson hair with her fingertips. Emiko smiled warmly at her and gestured out of the door, not before walking out there herself. Groaning silently at the thought of the ordeal ahead (she hated hospitals), Kairi sighed and followed the nurse towards the room that would reveal what she was fearing the most.
(A.N: Yea, I'm a lazy ass, therefore can't be arsed to write the inbetween scene so I'm gonna skip to night. Motto: if you don't have to do something...don't! XD)
Glancing at the big, white clock on the wall, Kairi sank back into the stiff hospital bed and sighed. Waiting for scan results was no fun task, and it was nearing midnight. Wondering if Emiko was ever going to return that night, Kairi rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow, breathing in the sharp scent of disinfectant that always hung around hospitals and sighing. She kind of missed the school. She never thought she'd grow to like it, but it seemed like home, after just a few days. And the beds were so squishy and soft...
Laughing to herself, she rolled back onto her back and gazed at the ceiling, although the darkness of the night meant that she could barely see it. A cool breeze blew through the open window, and Kairi shivered...and yawned at the same time. She was too tired to close the windows, anyway, and it's not like it would kill her to leave them open. She turned onto her side and yanked the stiff duvet up over her head, drifting in and out of sleep. She didn't drop off, though, just lay there resting, staring at the blank folds of the covers.
A rustling suddenly made her sit bolt upright, curse violently to herself and clutch her side. She didn't know if it was the curtains blowing from the draught the window let in, or if someone was moving. She didn't want to drop her guard - years of assassination taught her not to.
"Emiko...?" she asked quietly. "Sora?"
"Sora?" said a mocking voice suddenly. Kairi's hair stood on end and she looked around the room wildly. "Why would it be Sora?"
"Who are you? Where are you!" she asked sharply, trying to push thoughts of the mysterious assassin out of her head.
"You know who I am, little...Kairi."
Kairi froze. Who the hell was this, and how did they know her name?
"This better not be you, Keiko!" she snapped, trying to mask her fear.
"You know it's not her." the voice sneered. Kairi guessed from the pitch that it was a guy.
A dull thudding of heavy footsteps and the rattling of rubbing belt buckles filled the room. Through the darkness, Kairi could just make out a black, leather boot, a gloved hand, two cat-like, emerald eyes and a brief flash of silver steel. The footsteps grew nearer, and a talk figure dressed in a long, black, leather trenchcoat stepped out of the shadows, his long, choppy silver hair covering his face, still managing to show the sinister smirk he wore. His green eyes gleamed with menace and his pupils narrowed to resemble that of a cat's.
"Y...you..." said Kairi, and suddenly remembered the man. "Kadaj!"
The first time she saw him she'd disliked him, and sensed an un-natural presence around him, but now he was beginning to scare her, and she was getting more and more spooked by the second. Kadaj looked at her and smirked, his silver hair hanging over his eyes. He stood perfectly still, then lifted his head up and grinned down at her with a look that made her blood run cold.
"Well, well, look what we have here..." he smirked. Kairi didn't reply.
"How do you know my name?" she asked.
"Oh, Kairi! You don't think I don't know what's going on in here, you know." he said, looking shocked. "It's not hard to sit by a window and eavesdrop."
"Bastard." she spat. "What do you want?"
"Mind your language." said Kadaj, pacing up and down intimidatingly. "If I'm not mistaken...you are an assassin...am I correct?"
Kairi shot the man a death glare and said nothing. Kadaj grinned icily again.
"I thought so!" he said, laughing. "So why are you trying to hide that from us? Are you afraid?"
"Who the hell is 'us'?" she asked, getting more and more agitated by the second.
"My brothers and I." he smirked.
"What are you ON about?" she asked, shuffling back against the headboard of the bed.
"Maybe..." he grinned, setting down the threatening double-bladed sword he was holding. "...this will help you."
Kadaj held up an arm and some sort of pale blue light spiralled upwards, before engulfing him in a shimmering light. She could still make out his wild eyes and menacing grin beneath it, yet what was to come next surprised her the most. The light faded, and then beams of pure, white light shot out of his back and wrapped around his body. Slowly, but surely, they began to materialise, into a large pair of delicate, slim, feathered, silver wings.
Kairi felt the blood drain from her face as, ignoring the pain, she scrambled back against the bed.
"Y-You!" she cried, as a feather drifted through the air.
"Not quite," he smirked, folding the wings triumphantly at his body. "The person you encountered before was one of my brothers."
"What do you mean?" stammered Kairi, his words making absolutely no sense to her whatsoever.
"You have so many questions!" cried Kadaj in outrage. "Just pipe down for once, and then we can end this!"
Kairi was taken aback from his change in behaviour. Just a second ago he was sinister, calm and collected, but now he seemed to be acting more aggressive. She kept eyeing his long sword nervously, which was propped against her bed. Kadaj caught the young assassin's eye and turned to her.
"Saw Souba, did you?" he grinned. "I would have thought you'd be more interested in...this."
Kadaj reached into the other scabbard on his belt and unsheathed a horribly familiar sword.
"NO!" yelped Kairi suddenly. "What the hell!"
Kadaj held the sword up to the light, and the dim moonlight reflected magnificently on the sword's blade. Ikioi-kujiku's blade.
Kadaj laughed as he watched the look of horror cross Kairi's face. She felt disgusted and terrified.
"You should have made a better attempt to hide that thing." he grinned. "After all, I am in charge of room inspection."
Kairi felt sick. Why couldn't she have hidden it somewhere better than underneath her bed?
"Who else knows about this?" she growled.
"Just me, little Kairi." he laughed. "I haven't told my brother...yet."
"Yazoo..." she said quietly to herself, remembering the person Kadaj referred to in her room.
THIS FANFICTION HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED
Yea I know it's dumb to stop it in the middle, but I decided ages ago to stop this 'fic and I don't have enough time to finish the chapter. I seriously doubt I'll finish it as I plan to write a new fanfic with a decent, less tacky, more original idea. Feedback and ideas for the new fic would be nice. Drop me a line at http/nusubito. and if you wish you can ask for my MSN address. Fanfiction ideas would be most appreciated and I apologise for any inconvienience caused by the stopping of this fic. :3
The reason I'm stopping is:
- Bad storyline
- Too many own characters, could be confusing for some
- Unoriginal plot
- The characters are, well...out of character '
- I think the storyline is too tacky
Do you agree with this? Do you disagree? Like i said: tell me all on my deviantart account, or I can give you my MSN address if that would be easier.
Love from nusubito :3